Jessica Andrade returns to the Octagon on Saturday in Manchester, England, and she feels ready to get her first win under the UFC banner when she meets Rosi Sexton at UFC Fight Night 30.
Three months after her UFC debut, a TKO loss to Liz Carmouche, “Bate Estaca” (which means “slam”, in Portuguese) faces the British veteran and promises to use her hands to go for the knockout.
“I had the best camp ever,” Andrade told MMAFighting.com. “I’ve been training hard, more than before. I worked a lot on my striking game and I’m getting better and better every day.”
Andrade has stopped her opponents in all of her nine professional MMA wins, with four knockouts and five submissions. She doesn’t plan to test her ground skills against the jiu-jitsu brown belt.
“She’s a great fighter and has a good ground game,” she said. “That’s her best weapon, so I’ll try to avoid going to the ground with her. She has good takedowns, but I’ll keep it standing. Let’s see what happens.”
Sexton is 14 years older than the Brazilian, and she believes the fact that she had her “first pro MMA fight back when (Andrade) was in junior school” gives her an advantage.
“We can’t judge someone by his age or experience, only for her abilities,” Andrade fired back. “She started fighting earlier than me. Maybe she did it when I was still using diapers, I don’t know [laughs]. But we can’t underestimate anyone. I needed less time to get where I am today so it shows how good I am.”
Sexton and Andrade both lost in her UFC debuts, and the Brazilian feels the pressure of fighting inside the Octagon for the first time was a problem when she met Carmouche. Three months later, she feels ready to show what she’s capable of.
“Before the fight I felt relaxed, but when I got inside the Octagon and felt that pressure,” she said. “It wasn’t as easy as I expected. I was great in the first round but I got tired in that guillotine. I was already nervous, so that definitely didn’t help. I couldn’t feel my arm in the second round. But I’m more prepared now.”